research
 Patents
 Books
 Literature
 Articles
 Timeline
 Auction Archive

about
 About this site
 Wanted to buy

bulb gallery

Incandescent:
C
carbon
WD
drawn tungsten
WC
coiled tungsten
WM
mini tungsten
WS
pressed tung.
FG
figural bulbs
XL
christmas
XS
christmas sets
T
tantalum

Discharge:
NE
neon lamps
AR
argon lamps
XE
xenon lamps
MA
mercury
MC
fluorescent
MS
special mercury

Hardware:
F
fuses
FX
fixtures
PF
plugs & fittings
SA
sockets
SW
switches

tube gallery

 X-ray
 Geissler
 Crookes
 Radio
 Box art

museum pics

 Dr. Hugh Hicks
 
Fort Myers, FL.
 S.Slabyhoudek

links

 Related links
 Submit a link

 

Author Topic: Hand made light bulbs?  (Read 6370 times)

Offline bannon16

  • New Member!
  • *
  • Posts: 2
Hand made light bulbs?
« on: February 09, 2002, 09:17:00 am »
Does anyone know if most pre 1900 hundred bulbs were hand made?
 Thanks

Offline Tluce

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 28
Hand made light bulbs?
« Reply #1 on: February 10, 2002, 03:03:00 am »
Hi Colin,
To the best of my knowledge, bulbs were blown by hand by a gaffer at the rate of 2 per minute until 1907.  At that time, Corning started to develope a machine to blow the envelopes uniformally.  So I would have to say "yes", that prior to 1900 all bulbs were made by hand.  This is a bold statement because I'm no expert and the books I have often contradict each other.  Good luck with your film and please keep us posted on its progress.  Tim Luce

Offline Scott

  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 84
Hand made light bulbs?
« Reply #2 on: February 26, 2002, 10:32:00 am »
On a related note, the British show The Secret Life Of Machines demonstrated homemade bulbs, made from milk bottles and leads from mechanical pencils. According to the host, they were still glowing after four days.